An idea starts off in your head as a little seed. Then it becomes an itch that won’t go away. This Saturday, I’ll be in the RDS in Dublin, living proof of what a niggling itch can do.
I am standing for election for Fianna Fáil’s Ard Chomhairle. What makes my campaign different is that I am running it from London.
My overseas adventure began in 2004. At the time I was working as an administrator in the Fianna Fáil press and research office in Leinster House. I loved working there and it wasn't an easy decision to leave. I was 26 and a lot of my friends had already done the year abroad thing in Australia and elsewhere, and I wanted a similar experience.
I graduated from college in 2000, and at that time we were all being encouraged to go abroad for a while to gain “grown-up, international” views of the world to make us well-rounded candidates for employment. I wanted to get ahead early. But when I started to look around at my friends, it felt like I had missed the boat. I knew it was a risk to leave a good job with excellent career opportunities behind, but I decided to go for it.
Instead of heading for the Far East and Australia like so many of my peers however, I discovered another passion that has stayed with me to this day: the joys of skiing on fresh powder snow, under sparkling blue skies and sunshine, and that smugness that comes with sitting on a chairlift knowing that was my office. I worked with a tour operator for nine years in Andorra, France and Switzerland.
I moved back to Ireland in 2008 but I only lasted one year back in Leinster House, before the French Alps beckoned once again.
In 2012, I moved to London to get more experience in the travel industry. Now I work with Irish guest houses and B&Bs, helping them to market their offerings online.
It is in London that I rediscovered my Fianna Fáil roots. There is a cumann in London where we come together with a common interest in Irish politics, and politics in general. We’ve been steadily working within the Fianna Fáil organisation for recognition that emigration is not as it was. As a socially inclusive party, we need to reach out to our diaspora more - not just in gesture but in policy.
The main discussion among the diaspora at a political level is the right to vote on issues in Ireland. It is often argued that if you don’t pay taxes in Ireland, you shouldn’t be entitled to a vote; that if you want to vote, you should come home and play your part. The reality is however that many people would love to return, but the opportunities to do so still aren’t available for them in Ireland.
A lot of us are still very engaged in what happens at home. A lot of us want to contribute. A lot of us want to ensure that Irish society is one that we want to come home to eventually, one that can provide opportunities for a good life for us again.
A diaspora policy is not just about the right to vote. It’s also not just about tapping the diaspora for business ventures or ideas. It’s also about creating inducements to come home. David McWilliams wrote recently that we should be attracting people back by creating financial entitlements for both employers and employees. Offer tax breaks on relocation expenses. Create a system that would allow foreign credit history be accepted by Irish banks to help people apply for loans, credit cards, mortgages. Hold job fairs in Dublin Airport at Christmas time when everyone wants to come home and is sad about leaving when the holiday ends. Credit to David. He came up with some very sound suggestions.
So as my little idea was turning over in my head about running this campaign, I decided I could bring a lot to the table in Fianna Fáil on these issues.
